Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

Nail Art Tutorial: The Grapes of Wrath Nails

The Grapes of Wrath Manicure & Tutorial Nail art is so much fun, especially when it’s food-related! Am I hungry? Probably! I’m hungry for fun(ny) nail art!

Today I wanted to do grape nail art, but decided to put a little quirky twist on it. Here are my The Grapes of Wrath Nails!

Haha, as you can see, the middle finger has a bunch of very upset red grapes. Maybe it’s because the other clusters of purple grapes are staring at him and smiling. Who knows? (I wanted to make the red grapes look angrier, but I goofed up on the eyebrows. Should’ve made the angle more acute.)

What do you think is the background story here? Is Mr. Red Grapes upset because he’s being judged?

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. And when life hands you sour grapes, make quirky nail art! Continue reading →

L.A. Girl Metal Antique Gold Review & Swatches

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Image of L.A. Girl Metal Antique Gold ** This post was written by Fiona. She no longer blogs for Swatch And Learn. However, Mary still continues to blog and will be happy to reply to your comment. **

Out of all the polishes from the collection, L.A. Girl Metal Antique Gold is definitely the one that surprises me the most. Honestly, it’s a color I threw into my order only because I was interested in seeing how L.A. Girl antiqueize golds. (Yes, that’s a word. No, I lied: it’s not.)

Well, the result is not really antique gold, but it is definitely precious. And I’m seriously in love… even more than I like Deep Sea Mica which was the winner for me in this collection. I have a couple more to try from L.A. Girl Metal, but I have a feeling this shade is going to take home the (antique) gold for me! Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Fried Egg Nails

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Egg Nails Tutorial, Pictures & Swatches If you follow Swatch And Learn on Twitter, you’ll know that a few days ago, I woke up in the morning with a strong craving for chili. Very unusual considering I like having eggs for breakfast.

Today, I decided to pay tribute to one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast…because sometimes I’m a bit of a goofball. Normally I like scrambled eggs, but I thought that a fried, sunny-side-up egg would look cuter and less like polish poo-poo. (Yes, I am also apparently very mature, which is why I said poo-poo. And which is why I also said it a second time.)

Hope you have fun looking at my silly Fried Egg Nails! It was really simple to do, and I’ve explained it all step-by-step alongside visual aids in case you’d like to try it, too.

If you try your hand at it, maybe you could also add some bacon! (With all the scented polishes out there, it’s too bad there isn’t a bacon-scented one…although I’m not sure if I would want to smell like bacon all the time. The neighborhood dogs might chase after me…) Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Strawberry Nails

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Easy Strawberry Nail Tutorial For a long time, I’ve been wanting to create Strawberry Nails. Not only am I a huge fan of the fruit, but I am a child of the 80s and was in love with Strawberry Shortcake!

Then on Tuesday, I came across an absolutely adorable strawberry manicure on one of my favorite nail blogs ever – Steph’s Closet! (Steph is a real sweetheart & I’ve followed her blog for years.)

She makes everything look easy, and she is the Queen of Polka Dots…hehe! (Check out the link to her strawberry nail post at the bottom of mine. If you stop by, tell her that Mary sent ya!)

For these strawberry nails, I wasn’t sure which pink polish to use. But then the Nail Polish God spoke: China Glaze Strawberry Fields! (I love it when lacquer makes the choice obvious for me…hehe!)

Then, for the dots and leaves, I used a mixture of OPI, Zoya, and Konad polishes.

Further along in this post, I’ve included a tutorial with step-by-step instructions and photos in case you want to put your own spin on this.

I’m having a lot of fun doing fruit nail art. What do you think of my strawberry nails? Would you like to see me attempt other fruit-inspired manicures? I’d love to try more! Continue reading →

Rimmel Violet Metal Review & Swatches

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Image of Rimmel Violet Metal ** This post was written by Fiona. She no longer blogs for Swatch And Learn. However, Mary still continues to blog and will be happy to reply to your comment. **

Hi, my name is Fiona, and I’m addicted to makeup and nail polish.

The other day I waltzed into Shoppers (a Canadian drugstore chain). Why? It was Tuesday. 😛 Naturally I had to waltz in. My eyes widened when I saw they had a “Spend $50 and get a $10 gift card” thingy-ma-jig event happening. That translates to a justifiable reason for me to spend $ and get stuff that I don’t really need. 😀

Anyway, part of my mini haul was Rimmel Violet Metal. I’ve wanted to pick this up for a while now – I mean, it’s a red-purple that shifts to a blue depending on the light. Now I finally have it! I realllllly like it, don’t love it though. I think it’s because of the lighting I’m in – I feel it photographs prettier than the color I get to see when I’m indoors. 🙁 Continue reading →

Nail Art Tutorial: Neon Rainbow Argyle Konadicure Using Konad Image Plate m60

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Rainbow Neon Argyle Nail Tutorial Konadicure Swatches Especially in the summer, I love to crack out my neon nail polish. It’s so bright that even in the shade, it looks like it’s glowing! And that makes me really happy.

But this time, I couldn’t decide which neon polish to paint my nails with, so I decided to use four…plus Konad Image Plate m60 to give it a different flavor.

For this Neon Rainbow Argyle Konadicure, I used Essie Funky Limelight, China Glaze Sun Worshiper, China Glaze Pool Party, and China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada! Put those together and you’re ready for a manicure mambo!

It was much brighter in real life than in my photos. I think it was a fun look that I may try again with different colors.

What do you think? Will you be sporting any neons this summer? Continue reading →

Nail Art: Patriotic American Flag Nail Art & Tutorial

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Image of Patriotic American Flag Nail Art ** This post was written by Fiona. She no longer blogs for Swatch And Learn. However, Mary still continues to blog and will be happy to reply to your comment. **

Howdy! Happy 4th of July to all our friends on the south side of the border! Hope you have a great long weekend with friends, family, loved ones and some BBQ’d meats. At least that’s what I did on Canada Day!

Anyway, I want to celebrate this special day with my very first real nail-art attempt. I’m actually surprised with it since it’s my first ever design, although of course there is room for improvement. I made soooo many mistakes doing this, but that’s how we learn, right?

I had a lot of fun creating this Patriotic American Flag Nail Art… so much so that I’m thinking of doing an entire series on national flags! I’m hoping to take a vacation overseas soon and was just thinking (and getting excited) about traveling to a foreign land with its flag on my nails. OoOOo. Continue reading →